Preparations
by Clarity2199
Summary: A fic based on the '3 years'. BulmaVegeta, my version of what happened. I posted this fic on some random websight atleast 2years ago, and it finally got here. We'll see if anyone remembers it. Please R&R.


DRAGONBALL Z

Preparations

Narr: This story is another story about Vegeta getting together with Bulma for the first time. Yes, it's another fic on the '3 years' time...

This was infact made over 2 years ago, which I have placed on some random websight way back then, and will be reposting it to ffnet now. We'll see if anyone remembers it or not. This story will be slightly editted from the original, so it's not 'so' bad...but otherwise it should still be close to the same. I wont be doing anything drastic with it, since I'm no longer into dbz anymore. Sorry...GT ruined it for me. Anyway, hope you like the fic. I might have one or two more I can unburry, too. I'll see what I can find.

It's rated PG-13 to be on the safe side. But honestly, the worst of this fic is kissing and mentioning the word naked, there might be a swear word or two...it's really mild. Romance, Veg/Bulma. There ya go, hope you enjoy. Please read and review.

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Bulma came storming into her home, after a talk with one of her friends. It appeared that once again Yamcha had been cheating on her. "Oooh, when I get my hands on that man!", she spat out to no one in particular, as she slammed her purse down on the counter. She looked around for any apparent targets to vent out her frustrations. When she saw no one around, she called out, "Mom, Dad? Is anyone here?" 

No one answered, but only then did she happen to hear the shower running...

Bulma headed to the bathroom door and knocked, calling out, "Is someone in there?"

Vegeta had been taking advantage of the rare solace of Bulma's home, to take a shower without anyone bothering him. But of course, that couldn't last long. Already it appeared the 'nag' had returned, or so he presently called her. He blasted back at her, "No, the shower decided to turn on by itself! Of course someone's in here! Stupid human..."

Bulma could feel her blood pressure rising from the buttons Vegeta had pushed. She punched at the door and snapped back, "Well, whoever's in there is obviously not worth even mentioning, just some stupid Saiyan!"

There was no answer, and Bulma couldn't even get the satisfaction of seeing his face to even know if that comment bothered him or not. And still she was itching to gossip to someone about her problems...

Vegeta continued his shower, ignoring the woman's ranting, and hoped if he actually shut up, maybe she would go away. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Before he knew it, she was walking into the bathroom, and saying, "You would not believe the day I had today!", as if trotting into the room was a common occurance. Of course this wasn't the first time she ignored his privacy, either. Vegeta assumed she did it on purpose, knowing how he hated when she did that! But then again, if he actually locked the door in the first place, that would have also probably helped prevent that from happening.

He spat out, "Do you mind, woman! I expect my privacy to be just that...private!"

"Listen, I had a bad day today, and you're gonna hear about it, rather you like it or not!", she ordered.

"As if I could care less about your pathetic excuse of a life!", he snapped back.

Bulma smiled and said, "Well guess what? You're gonna shut up and listen to it, cuz there's no one else for me to talk to about it right now. And if you don't, then you're not going to have one moment of peace during your precious shower!" She could see Vegeta twitch in frustration from her comment, that only made her smile more. 'Gotcha', she thought.

He finally spat out, "Fine! Just hurry up and get it over with! I still have training to finish!"

"What else is new...", she muttered, then began today's gossip. "Well, this started a couple days ago..."

Vegeta groaned. It was going to be a looong one.

Bulma continued, "Yamcha told me that he had been going to the gym everyday to work out and get ready for this big fight all you guys are preparing for. Well, today my friend Teresa told me what all these 'supposed' excercises were. All this time, he had been going to the gym to do this 'jazzercise' dance with all these bimbos! And today, he supposedly went home with Tiffany to help out in some nightly activity! Do you believe the nerve of this man!"

During the time Bulma had been telling him this, Vegeta had stiffened up in the shower, and he spat out in anger, "That's inexcusable!"

"That's exactly what I thought!", Bulma nodded, and couldn't believe that Vegeta was listening and was actually being sympathetic to her. She was actually beginning to feel pretty good about telling this to him, now. 'Maybe Vegeta's not such a bad guy, afterall...'

But then Vegeta added, "The best he could find to get himself in shape was dancing with a bunch of pitiful earth women? I knew the human warriors were really pathetic here, but..."

"Wait a minute!", Bulma said, interrupting him. "Didn't you even slightly understand what I was trying to make a point of?"

Vegeta snapped, "For one woman, do not interrupt me when I'm talking! Of course I got what you were saying...that your supposed boyfriend is as pitiful and pathetic as I had predicted him to be!"

"Arrrgh!", Bulma cried out in frustration. "No, that he's CHEATING ON ME!"

Vegeta smiled behind the misty shower door, and replied, "Well, seeing who his girlfriend is, I suppose I really can't blame him..."

Bulma skreached out, "What did you just say!", ready to blast him with another verbal attack. But Vegeta already had another retort, before she could say any more.

"Tell me woman, when you came bursting into my shower, blackmailing me to listen to you or you'd never leave, and then prattle about some mundane nonsense, did you actually expect me to CARE?"

Bulma answered, "Well, if you even HAD a girlfriend any time in your life, I would expect you to understand how that would make someone feel, having the person you care for end up sleeping with some bimbo! But then again, you probably never had a girlfriend, did ya Vegeta? Afterall, who'd want to go out with a loser like you?"

Vegeta answered, "For your information woman, it would have been an honor for any Saiyan woman to have the attention of royalty drawn to them! But the fact of the matter is I have better things to do with my time then go chasing around after lesser people than myself!"

Bulma replied, "Better things to do? You mean like chase around Goku, cuz even 'he' can kick your butt?"

Vegeta growled, and spat out, "No, like try and take a shower in PEACE!"

Bulma grinned, knowing she got him on that one. She then mischievously looked at the bathroom sink, and decided to gain another point her way. She reached over and cranked on the hot water. In an instant, Vegeta's shower turned ice cold. As he howled from the abrupt change, Bulma laughed and asked, "Is something wrong, your majesty?"

Vegeta quickly turned off the water, and came out angry and wet. "So, you think that's funny! I'll..."

As Vegeta stormed out of the shower completely naked, Bulma couldn't help but look down at his nudity. Her face blushed as she did, and part of her finally questioned herself, 'why did she come in here? Did she really want to 'gossip with Vegeta', or was there some other reason that she was so anxious to come into the bathroom while he was showering?' Bulma was suddenly not sure, and felt embarrassed and ashamed of her behavior. Yet, she was frozen in place, and somehow couldn't seem to pull her eyes away. Was she that desperate to find another man, or was there something more about why she was always finding excuses to bother Vegeta?

Vegeta was ready to go all out on his threats against her, but he lost the words he was about to say to her, when he noticed her focused down below eye-level. He too looked down, forgetting himself at the time, to see what she was gawking at. Seeing what it was, it caught a quick reminder to him that he burst out of the shower naked. He too couldn't help but feel some embarrasment and discomfort, especially the way she was staring at him. Worse still was that his manhood rose as he realized how she was reacting around him. Trying to hide his embarrasment, he attempted to act natural, and grumbled, "What are you staring at?"

Despite Vegeta's lame attempt at hiding his awkwardness, she could still see the obvious changes in his reaction. His tone was lower, and there was hardly any harshness in his voice when he questioned her. He was slightly trembling, and his face had a shade of red, which she finally managed to move her eyes up to look at. She stammered out, "Uh...uh...you should probably get a towel. You're...dripping..." Somehow she managed to get her hand to move back and grab one from the nearby towel wrack. She slowly pulled it out and brought it up for Vegeta to grab hold of. Her hand trembled as she held it out to him, and she couldn't seem to make it stop. 'God, what is wrong with me? I feel like a stupid teenager! This is Vegeta standing in front of me. Oh god, he's gonna make fun of me for the rest of my life over this!'

As she struggled with her inner problems, Vegeta managed to slowly walk closer to her, and brought his hand up to grab the towel, his eyes never leaving hers. He could feel the heat from his own desires, and could smell the pharamones coming off of her. His hand grabbed onto the towel, contacting her hand in the process. He could barely keep himself from lunging at her, yet wasn't exactly sure why. He couldn't think straight to figure it out, either. The 2 seconds they stood there frozen seemed like an eternity for them. Vegeta finally managed to mutter, which was barely louder than a whisper, "You didn't answer my question..."

"Uh...question?", she managed to squeak out, her voice cracking in the reply. Her hand rubbed his hand that was still touching hers.

Vegeta couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward, kissing her deeply. Something in the back of his mind screamed that he would regret doing this, but right now he didn't care.

Their lips connected, as his tongue slipped past hers. Next thing they both knew, they were on the floor of the bathroom, Vegeta over Bulma, as he was looking to grab the first piece of her clothing to rip off of her. Bulma heard the slight tear of her pants, since Vegeta was too agressive to actually think of removing her pants correctly. Immediately, she back to reality for a moment, as she yelled at him, "Hey! Do you have any idea how much I spent on those pants?"

Vegeta gave her an 'if looks could kill' stare, and it sank into Bulma's own thick head that if she didn't shut up, she was going to ruin this moment. She gave him a sheepish look and said, "Nevermind..." Then something else clicked, "But...um, could we do this in the bedroom atleast? I mean, you don't really want to do this in the bathroom, do you?"

At the moment, Vegeta didn't care if they were at the edge of a toxic waste sight. But Bulma's words did sink in, and being that he was 'royalty', he decided perhaps she had a point. Not having much words to say at the moment, he simply nodded, picked her up, and took her to her bedroom. Once there, he finished removing her clothes, actually trying not to be so brutal on them, this time...

Morning soon arrived. The sun shined in, hitting one of the prince's eyes. He smiled, not having any of those troublesome nightmares he's been having, lately...mostly involving Kakkarotte, that strange blue haired kid who claimed to be Saiyan, and his father - King Vegeta. Talk about a bad mix. He did have a strange dream though, of him and Bulma. Even now, he could still smell the odd scent of sex he had smelled from that dream. Strangely, now that he was awake enough, he was having trouble deciding if he should get up and start training, or actually stay in alittle longer today and enjoy the peaceful thoughts in his head, while they were still there. It had been too long since his sleep had been this enjoyable. Of course, the sunlight wasn't helping...

Opening his one eye to look at the partially opened curtain, he brought his hand up, making the energy within him close the curtain, so he didn't have to get up to do it. He then began to drift back to sleep. While he was in a 1/2 state of sleep... the dream was still there with Bulma beside him, rubbing her hand across his face as she rubbed herself against him. Somewhere in his mind, he thought how real this dream was. It was as if she was right there with him! Then another strange flash hit his mind. Now that he thought of it, he could have sworn those curtains were 'pink', instead of the grey ones in his room...

The thought forced his mind back to consciousness, as curiousity got to him about the curtains. He opened his eye again, looking at the curtain. Sure enough...it was pink with white frills. Beside the window was a dresser with strange 'womanly' things on it. Then he felt the movement rubbing up next to him, and his other eye jerked open and looked over to see Bulma sleeping next to him. 'What?...'

As he wildly began to think how this had happened, he finally started to remember the night before, after Bulma came bursting into the shower room. He couldn't believe what came over him. He slowly slid himself up in an almost sitting position, as he looked down at her...sleeping so peacefully. He 'wanted' to feel totally horrified by the whole experience...but, he wasn't. Him ending up being with Bulma this way, was hardly expected. True...she was attractive, but his focus was 'not' on women. He was a saiyan warrior who was above such sentiments. Even now, he refused to believe Bulma meant anything to him. There had to be some other reason why he had allowed himself to do this. He had placed himself under enourmous pressure to make it to super saiyan. Afterall, if a low-classed saiyan could do it, then surely he could do it! Perhaps mentally and physically he had some kind of need for a release, since he had still not yet achieved his goal. 'Of course, that 'had' to be it', he thought.

But even though he had convinced himself once again that she meant nothing, he still found how much difficulty he had wanting to leave her side. She 'was' attractive, even if she was a weak human. She was intelligent and one of the few people in this world with the courage to stand up against him, despite how much more powerful he was. That alone deserved some respect.

Shaking those thoughts off, he reminded himself that he had work to do, and was prepared to leave. That's when Bulma then opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling. He was startled by her waking up unexpectedly, and just froze there for a minute, not sure what to say to her. Both of them in bed together was certainly not the best position for him to be in. What could he possibly say?

Bulma smiled, moving closer to him and said, "Good morning, handsom...", quite happy about last night, putting her arms around his waste. He was still frozen, not sure how to react. Finally he moved his hand over to her, thinking of pushing her off. Strangest thing was, he couldn't find the strength to do it. He had the power to knock down this entire house with one punch, but couldn't find the strength to peel off this weak human female...

Finally, instead of pushing her off, he found himself doing just the opposite, embracing her for the moment.

Bulma held him close, enjoying the feeling of having him next to her, as his hand moved around her and finally seemed to accept what she was doing. She smiled, feeling totally happy. It was strange how all the times she spent with Yamcha seemed to pale in comparison with this night. Now all her problems with Yamcha disappeared, and she realized she no longer cared about what he was doing. None of it mattered, anymore. She looked back up to Vegeta, saying, "You want breakfast?"

That question clicked much easier with Vegeta. He answered simply, "Yes". Bulma then slid up to the same 1/2-sitting position, and kissed him deeply. He accepted it, and as he did, those urges he felt yesterday quickly started coming back. 'No! You can't let this happen again! You have training to do!', he mentally screamed to himself. His mind began to fight himself from these mixed emotions. But before either side could win, Bulma pulled away, patting his stomach and got up. She slipped on a quick night gown and robe, saying, "You better take one of my robes when you get up. You didn't come in here yesterday with any clothes on, and I'm sure wherever Mom and Dad went last night, they're back by now". The words put a shade of red back in the saiyan prince's face, but Bulma didn't seem to pay any mind, and headed out to make breakfast.

Vegeta never even thought about the way he came in here, until now. And she was right, he couldn't just leave her room naked. But having to put on one of her robes! That would be worst than putting on that pink shirt she gave him some time ago! He couldn't think of any way to come out of this, keeping his pride intact. And he was too proud to shout out to her to get him some clothes. He's sure the whole family household would be staring at him all day, if he did that. So, he surrendered to Bulma's lame advise to look over her closet of stuff. She only had two bathrobes left. One was pink and frilly, and the other was a light blue see-through silk. He shook in frustration, only thinking that she did this on purpose just to torture him!

Vegeta finally left wearing a bedsheet around his waste heading down the hall to his room. Bulma's mother was heading up at the same time, and stopped from the sight of Vegeta. Turning an extra shade of red, he snapped, "What are you looking at?", and continued on to his room. The mother paused thinking about what she saw, then turned and said, "Oh Vegeta...isn't that Bulma's cover?"

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!", Vegeta roared, shaking the whole house from his voice, as he stomped to his room.

After getting dressed in another excercise suit, he came out to breakfast, being in a very bad mood. He was angry for what he had done, angry for the weakness he had shown, angry for wasting so much time today...

As he sat down at the table, purposely avoiding looking at Bulma, Bulma calmly put his pancakes down, then went to her parents and put some down for them Vegeta of course had a huge stack, compared to the others.

The father said, "Well Bulma, I'm surprised your cooking for us this morning. What's the special occasion?" The question almost caused Vegeta to choke on his breakfast.

Bulma clamly answered, "I dunno. I guess I was just in the mood, that's all", also seeming much more happier and cheerful this morning.

Then Mrs. Briefs asked Vegeta, "Oh Vegeta, do you want some syrup with your pancakes? And by the way, I hope you put Bulma's sheet back on her bed..."

Vegeta 'was' trying to ignore them all as he shoved another fork-full in his mouth, but froze in place as she made that comment, swallowing his food in one big lump...which really hurt, since he barely chewed his food.

Mr. Briefs looked over at the mother saying, "Dear, what are you talking about?", as even Bulma started to look alittle embarrassed, saying, "Mom!"

Mrs. Briefs said, "Well, it's true. I'm sorry honey, but I don't see why Vegeta should be walking around in your bedsheets. He does have clothes in 'his' room, afterall..."

Mr. Briefs looking at Vegeta and then Bulma, catching on much more than the mother was that something might be going on between them. Bulma was still a bit embarrassed herself, but couldn't help but giggle, imagining the sight of Vegeta stomping off to his room, wearing nothing but her bedsheet. She wondered why he shook the house yelling earlier this morning...

Not being able to deal with this humiliation any further, Vegeta slammed down his fork, causing the table to shake, and snapped, "I'm going to train!", then stormed out the door, slamming it just as hard, and almost knocking it off its hinges.

Bulma called back to him, "What about breakfast? You barely touched it!", but was not answered. She sighed, then snapped back at her mother, "Did you HAVE to humiliate him like that?"

"I don't know what you mean, dear. I just didn't want him taking your things without asking, that's all...", Mrs. Briefs said, having no clue in the world what was going on.

Mr. Briefs said, "Bulma...is there something between you and Vegeta that you're not saying?"

Mrs. Briefs, not hearing a thing her husband just said, commented, "Of course, I was a bit surprised seeing all that open flesh. Ooo, I think I'm blushing! Teehee!"

"Mother!", Bulma snapped at her mother, then answered her father, "Yeah, I guess there is...sigh. Dad, I think I'm in love in him..."

"With who, dear?", Mrs. Briefs asked.

Mr. Briefs continued, "Does he feel the same way about you?"

Bulma smiled, "Yes...I'm sure of it. I mean yeah, he didn't actually 'say' it. But you know Vegeta, I don't think he's the type that would actually 'say' it in words. He's not like us. But still...I can tell."

Mrs. Briefs blinked a couple of times, "Bulma, are saying you have a thing for Vegeta?"

Mr. Briefs turned to the mother saying, "Dear, Bulma has already slept with Vegeta".

Mrs. Briefs put her hand over her mouth, blushing, saying, "Oh my! When did this happen?"

Bulma rolled her eyes, saying, "I'm gonna get something ready for Vegeta to eat quick. I'm sure that's not going to help him excercising, if he's still hungry. Atleast, if he's anything like Goku, that is..."

Mr. Briefs chuckled, petting that animal on his shoulder, saying, "Just don't say anything like that infront of him. I don't think he'd like being compared in that way..."

"But, what about Yamcha?", Mrs. Briefs asked.

"What about Yamcha?", Bulma asked. "He's sleeping with some dance-a-thon bimbo, anyway!"

"When did this happen?", Mrs. Briefs asked.

"Supposedly just last night", Bulma said.

"But he just called last night, while you were in bed. He said he was over at Master Roshi's, and was trying to see if you were available to go out with him. I just assumed you were already out somewhere...", Mrs. Briefs commented.

Bulma suddenly wondered if she was wrong about what she heard in the gossip string. But she just whirled around toward them, saying, "Well, I don't care, anyway! We're through and I'm sick of wondering if he's cheating on me behind my back or not!"

Mr. Briefs now asked, "But weren't you the one that just cheated on him?"

"No, cuz I broke up with him!", Bulma snapped.

Mr. Briefs asked, "Did you actually 'tell' Yamcha that, yet?"

Bulma then shouted, for the world to hear, "Will you just MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! I'LL TELL HIM WHEN I'M READY TO!"

Both parents froze...then at once, quickly put their plates away and almost ran out of the room, assuming this was simply more of Bulma's mixed-up dating games...

Vegeta was in the training room at 300 times gravity, pushing himself more. He was having far more trouble today, too. His stomach was not filled, making him feel weaker...but he was too proud to go back in there, after what was being said about him. So he pushed on, putting his own physical health in danger from being in there...

A viewscreen then suddenly popped up with Bulma, saying, "Knock knock! Turn off the gravity machine Vegeta, I'm coming in".

"Go away!", he snapped. "I'm too busy to deal with you, or your crazy family!"

Bulma then held up a plate with a punch of sandwiches on it, and showed it to the viewscreen saying, "Are you sure? I'd hate to have all these sandwiches go to waste..."

He looked up, and his stomch growled, demanding he listen to her. Grumbling, he moved over to the gravity machine, and turned it back to 0.

Once it was off, Bulma opened the door and strolled in, saying, "I thought you'd probably still be hungry, since you skipped most of breakfast..."

Vegeta ingored her, taking the sandwiches, and hungrily shoving his face. He noticed the gallon of water she also brought in, and then grabbed that and drank 1/2 of it down.

As he did, Bulma said, "You know, I wish you wouldn't overdue it so much. You already blew up this room once, and hurt yourself twice since you've been in here. It's not healthy for you to do this. I know you want to be in your best shape, but that's not going to happen while you keep this up. You're going to end up going to battle with injuries, and don't think those robots wont take advantage of that!"

Vegeta finished his meal, feeling much better and asked, "Are you done yet?"

Bulma thought about it and nodded, "I think so..."

Vegeta then turned around, heading back toward the gravity machine, saying, "Good, then get out! I'm trying to train!"

Bulma asked, "Did you even hear anything I said?"

He answered, "No! Nor do I care to, either!"

Bulma said, "Well, what about what I said about the robots?"

Vegeta answered, "I will be in perfect shape when I face them! That is, as long as you stay out of my way!"

Bulma smiled and said, "Oh. So then, you 'did' hear me..."

Vegeta growled then whirled around snapping, "Will you get out of here!"

Bulma put the plate down and came closer to him, causing Vegeta to uncomfortably back away...but not enough. Bulma wrapped herself around him in a hug, saying, "I just don't want you to hurt yourself. You worry me, sometimes..."

Again, she was weirding Vegeta out, who was not used to recieving or giving any kind of sentiment. He answered, "I...I don't need your concerns, now let me train!"

Bulma looked up at him, smiling again, and kissed him passionately on the lips. Vegeta froze, but began to give in. He wanted this...to be with her, but he was far too obsessed to beat Kakkarotte to let this continue. He decided as long as he continued to let this happen, she was going to keep coming back to distract him from what he had to do, and had to put a stop to this now, before this got out of hand.

It hurt, but he pushed her back, saying, "Listen...I don't know what you 'think' happened between us, but it meant NOTHING! Do you hear me, NOTHING! Go crawl back to that boyfriend of yours, and leave me alone!"

Bulma looked up at him with sad puppy eyes, saying, "It really wouldn't matter to you if I went back and slept with Yamcha?"

Vegeta tried to get the words out, but he couldn't. He couldn't stand the thought of her being with anyone else, now. Bulma could clearly see it on his face, too. The twitching his eyes made just from her bringing up Yamcha's name. Vegeta was trying desperately to convince her how tough and heartless he was, but it wasn't working. He whirled around, keeping his back to her, as he said, "You heard what I said, now get out!"

Bulma smiled, and chimed, "Okay...I'll see you at lunchtime...", and headed out the door with the plate and water in hand.

The next few days, Vegeta forceably pushed himself deeper into his own obessions. By keeping himself obsessed with beating Kakkarotte, it helped him to not think about Bulma so much. And she certainly didn't help him much, either. At times, she purposely tried to be nicer to him, just to torment him! Some nights, he would wake up and find her there sleeping peacefully with him. He couldn't think of what to do about it, either. He couldn't tell her to leave...and he couldn't make himself leave, though he insisted to himself that he was simply too tired to get up and take the couch, so he might as well stay, denying his own feelings. As far as he was concerned, he was as cold as heartless as he's ever been, and no one was going to tell him differently. All he had to do was get rid of these androids. Then he would beat Kakkarotte - proving himself to be the most powerful. After that, he would move on to taking over this world and the rest of the universe, just as he was meant to! And if he allowed himself a few nights in bed to sleep with an earth woman...so what? He was simply using her, and would move on no big deal.

Yet, these sleeping habits went from days to weeks until he actually began to get used to her there, and still insisting that she meant nothing to him. He could throw her out at any time, and he could care less.

So one particular morning, he woke up to find Bulma was already gone out of bed, when he clearly knew she was there last night. It gave him a strange empty feeling to find himself alone in bed. He shook it off, and headed to beakfast. Maybe today he could begin his training a bit earlier. He had achieved training in 300 times gravity quite comfortably, now...and was ready to push a jump up to 350! But when he came into the kitchen, he found a very miserable-looking Bulma. She was so pale, she looked almost white, and was having a difficult time holding down soup that she ate. From the tissues around her and the red puffy eyes, she also looked like she was crying. Vegeta froze at the doorway, a mix of concern for her health, and his own if he said the wrong words.

The mother chearfully passed by Vegeta, singing, "Good morning!" At that, Bulma broke down in tears, grabbing the tissue. Both Vegeta and the mother froze, looking over at Bulma, confused. The mother asked, "Uh dear...what's wrong?"

Bulma shouted at them, "Can't you all just leave me alone? You all HATE ME! WAAAHHHH!", and ran to her room. The mother and Vegeta still just stood there frozen for a moment, and then finally turned and looked at each other, equally bewildered by the strange actions from Bulma. Finally both decided to pretend what they saw never happened, both quietly walking in, and getting their own breakfast.

Later that day, Mr. Briefs appeared on Vegeta's view screen, as Vegeta was excercising. He said, "Vegeta, we're going to have to go out to the doctor's office today. While we're gone, I must ask 'please' don't destroy the gravity unit. I wont be here to make repairs, if you destroy anything".

Vegeta didn't like that, since if he blew any of the small robots up in his training, he wouldn't be there to make more. "And what's so important that everyone has to leave?", he asked, thinking only of himself.

Mr. Briefs answered, "It seems that Bulma is terribly sick. She's been throwing up all day today, and can't keep anything down. So we're going to see if the doctor can give her anything for it. We'll be back later today..."

Vegeta felt a tinge of worry but shoved it in back, ignoring it, and snapped, "Well if she came down with anything, she better not have given it to me! Go and get her out of here!"

Later that day they came back, but none of them said a word to Vegeta. It wasn't until nighttime when Vegeta finally came back in, and by that time, everyone was asleep. He got himself some food, took his shower, changed his clothes, threw the dirty clothes in the hamper, and finally headed to sleep. But Bulma was not in his bed that night. He saw the hover vehicle outside, so he knew they came home. He finally decided to sneak upstairs and peak into Bulma's room. Bulma seemed to be asleep, so he didn't bother her and headed to bed, deciding it was probably for the best if she was as sick as Mr. Briefs had said.

Bulma laid in bed still awake, wondering how she was going to tell Vegeta the news...he was going to be a daddy.

A few more days passed by. Vegeta did not question about her virus, and avoided her as much as he could, since she was supposedly sick. Mr. and Mrs. Briefs both kept looking at him strangely though, which he didn't care about. And this sickness didn't seem to be getting any better, either. Worst still, this illness kept putting Bulma into strange emotional fits, making him want to avoid her more. He only wished she would get over this illness soon...he actually began to miss having her in his room at night.

It was then, as he was heading to the training room, that Yamcha showed up. Yamcha approached and began to rant to Vegeta, saying, "Vegeta, what's been going on with Bulma? First she says she wants nothing more to do with me, then she says she can't come to the phone cuz she's sick! Is she making excuses to avoid me for some reason?"

"I couldn't imagine why", he sarcastically answered, also hoping Yamcha would get the hint to leave him alone. Vegeta really didn't want to be involved in this kind of conversation, and felt strangely uncomfortable.

Yamcha said, "This better have nothing to do with you!"

Vegeta now looked up at him, and asked, "Is that a threat?", ready to do battle, if this weakling tried anything, or continued to harp at him. Vegeta would normally be simply having fun taunting Yamcha on how he could careless about him or Bulma's worthless life. But the weirdest part was, Vegeta probably 'was' the cause for Bulma's actions around him. Not that Vegeta minded that Bulma dumped him, but the thought of Vegeta suddenly becoming part of Bulma's strange life seemed, well...'strange'. And he still was not sure how to react to this new situation he somehow got himself involved in.

As for Yamcha, he suddenly shut up, remembering earlier when he couldn't handle the 100-times gravity that Vegeta begun to train in, some time ago. And by now, Vegeta was probably handling a lot more...Vegeta could probably kick his butt without barely having to think about it. Yamcha muttered, "Uh...well, I think I'll go see Bulma..." Vegeta turned, heading to the gravity room, relieved to be out of that conversation.

Yamcha continued toward the house, mumbling, "Well, he's just lucky this time...", realizing how dumb he was in the first place to even approach Vegeta. And he knew anyway that this had nothing to do with Vegeta. Afterall, Bulma and Vegeta? That would be too stupid to imagine! True, Bulma did have that weird dream about him, but that's just a dream...right? But anyway, he knew Bulma was mad at him and why. Bulma had found out from the 'gossip queen' Teresa about him jazzercising with women.

Worst still, he agreed to go to Tiffany's house to help her with a few moves, and was honestly hoping to get more than that...but then he found out the news that Teresa had talked to Bulma. In hopes to weasel his way out of this, he immediately broke his date with Tiffany and flew to Master Roshi's, calling her there in hopes that it would be enough for her to think she was wrong, and get him out of the doghouse. Yet since then, he had called her multiple times...every time Bulma casually blew him off, saying that she's breaking up with him, without even giving him a reason. And now, she's even beginning to give him some lame excuse about being sick! Well, he wasn't about to let her get away with it, any more!

Yamcha strutted up to Bulma's house, and knocked on the door. Bulma, looking deathly sick, answered it, looking like the living dead. Yamcha leapt back, frightened at the sight of Bulma and how she was looking. "Ahhh! I mean...Bulma! It's, uh...'good'...yeah, good to see you! Heh heh..."

Bulma groaned at Yamcha's lame comeback, after seeing her condition. She was too sick and too miserable to put up with Yamcha, and snapped, "Can't you see I'm not feeling well! What do you WANT!"

Yamcha backed up a few more steps, saying, "Uh...wow, I guess you really 'are' sick...", not thinking about what he was saying, as usual.

Bulma snapped, "AND WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!"

"AHH!", Yamcha cried out again, and actually leaped back a foot, more frightened of Bulma then he even was at Vegeta. "Nothing! Nothing at all! Heh heh...well, you're obviously not feeling well, so I guess I better go. Goodbye!" Yamcha just ran, then flew as fast as he could, while Bulma just slammed the door.

Vegeta didn't know why, but he actually took a few moments off of training to watch idiot Yamcha go to the door and face Bulma. And he had to admit, it was indeed an entertaining moment...looking through his window and watching Yamcha run away like a scared schoolgirl, after seeing Bulma. He knew the parents were gone again, and Bulma was left to answer the door, herself. He also knew how bad a shape she's been in.

But now that Yamcha was gone and the moment passed, he was left curious... thinking about Bulma's illness. As sick as she's been, she'd have waves where she was perfectly fine. Infact, she'd become more ravishing for food than most humans he had seen. And the parents didn't seem nearly as worried about her since that day they took her to the doctor, as if what she was going through was perfectly normal. It just didn't make sense. Shaking his head from these thoughts, he decided to ignore them and keep focused on what was important. Of course, having to walk on eggs around Bulma to get the basic necessities, and trying to avoid her ranting and strange mood swings were really starting to get on his nerves...

It wasn't too much longer, when he noticed one day when Bulma took off her bathrobe, that she was putting on some weight. But he didn't say anything about it, and headed for breakfast. At breakfast, Bulma was in one of her 'I'm too sick to eat' phases. The father said, "Bulma dear, you should eat something. It's not healthy to go eating nothing but soup".

Vegeta foolishly decided to comment, "From the way she's gaining weight, I'd hardly consider her as someone who's starving".

Both parents turned, looking shocked at him. Bulma looked up at him, the tears were already starting to well up in her eyes. Vegeta looked around, and asked, "What?"

Bulma charged out of the room bawling again, and Mr. Briefs said, "You shouldn't have said that to Bulma. You know how sensitive she is..."

"Sensitive?", Vegeta boomed. "She's not sensitive, she's insane! She's been crazy ever since she got whatever this illness is that ailes her! When is she supposed to get over this, anyway!"

"You mean Bulma hasn't told you yet?", Mrs. Briefs asked.

"Told me WHAT?", Vegeta snapped.

The parents looked at each other for a moment. Then Mrs. Briefs turned back to him, saying, "Oh nothing. I have to do my gardening now..." Right afterwards, Mr. Briefs jumped up, saying, "Oh yes, I have a project I really must finish now", and both almost ran out of the room.

Vegeta looked around, thinking this family was getting weirder and weirder every moment he stayed here. As he went over to raid the fridge, he continued to wonder what they meant that 'Bulma didn't tell him...'? They were acting very secretive suddenly, and he didn't like secrets kept from him.

It didn't take long for Vegeta to storm up to Bulma's room and try to open the door, then breaking it since it was locked, to see an even stranger sight with Bulma. Bulma's eyes were totally dried, she had already dressed and put her make-up on, as if she never ran up stairs in tears, and was sitting on the bed staring off in space. She looked over at Vegeta that had broken her lock, who was looking back at her dumbfounded.

Bulma now changed from passive to angry, saying, "Did you have to break my door on the way in? Haven't you Saiyans ever heard of knocking before?"

Vegeta growled, "Nevermind that! You have been keeping something from me, and I want to know NOW!" He knew that probably sounded totally stupid, but the thought of being left out of a conversation really got to him.

Bulma, instead of not knowing what he was talking about, got almost scared from what he said, and stuttered out, "Uh...wh-who told you I was keeping something from you?"

"Your stupid parents said something about you keeping this illness from me. If this thing is contageous, I swear I will make you pay for it!", Vegeta answered.

Bulma groaned, "Don't you ever think about anyone but yourself?"

Vegeta snapped, "NO!"

Then Bulma strangely calmed, and turned away, saying, "I suppose they're right. I have been stalling about telling you about this. I guess I really wasn't sure what the right words were to say this to you. Come in, I think we really need to talk..."

Vegeta slowly closed the door behind him, having a really bad feeling about this. The thought suddenly hit him that maybe her illness had no cure. Maybe like Kakkarotte...in time she would soon die. Maybe she was dying, 'now'! But wait...that didn't make sense. Then the parents would also be bawling all the time. He said, "I'm not here for some big speach of yours. I don't really care 'what's' wrong with you. I'm just tired of you acting crazy all the time. Now what is it?"

Bulma kept her gaze out the window, still wondering what he would think. Would he really care? Would he run away? It's the fear that had kept her from telling him. She said, "I guess your right. I should just come out and say it." She took a deep breath, turning back to face him, and said, "I'm pregnant".

Vegeta did not seem the least bit phased, though. Bulma gave him a moment to say...something. Anything! Since he seemed totally reactionless from it, she then asked, "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes...so?", Vegeta said.

"So, WHAT?", Bulma said, now getting angry that he didn't seem to even care!

"So, what is this pregnant? Some kind of disease?", he asked.

Bulma just looked at him. He didn't know? "You don't know what pregnancy is?"

"If I knew, do you think I would be asking!", he snapped at her angrily. "Perhaps you haven't realized yet, but I'm not from this world!"

Bulma smiled, saying, "I guess your people have a different word for it. Hmmm...what's the word you people used when a woman is having a child?"

"You're having a child coming over the house? Who, Kakkarotte's brat?", he asked.

Bulma screached, "God, what do you people do to reproduce over there, anyway!"

Reproduction! That made more sense. Vegeta instantly thought about the Saiyan way of reproduction. They do not waste their time on sentiments...that was the more past primitive way before Freeza showed up and constantly put them to work, male or female. Females no longer wasted their time on caring for their young. They would take a male and female doner to create a life and stick the embryo in a birthing tube, where it would stay, until it was at the right stage where it should be able to hold its head up on its own. From there, it would be stuck into a ship and sent out to a world to conquer. Of course, most worlds he had ever run into didn't reproduce that way. The Nameks didn't have a male or female; they spit out eggs. Most other races would 'breed'...the female would normally have a child grow within the woman's stomach. Then when it came out, they would care for their young until adulthood.

Vegeta's eyes widened, backing his thoughts up a bit about a child growing in the woman's stomach. He glanced over at Bulma, and looked down at her stomach which had just begun to swell. This is what she must mean as pregnancy. Hesitating, he managed to spit out, "You are growing a child...in THERE?", pointing at her stomach.

Bulma smiled, seeing he finally got it, and nodded. Now it was time to see what Vegeta thought about it.

Vegeta asked, "So, who's the male?"

Bulma did a typical anime collapse on the ground, when he STILL didn't get it. She went over to him, saying, "Vegeta...you're going to be a father".

Vegeta got that one too. His eyes widened, hearing what he thought he would never hear in his life. "B-but...", he was about to ask how, but as he thought about it, it really wasn't too difficult to figure out. He had allowed himself to spend far too many nights with Bulma, pleasing both her and himself. It probably shouldn't have been too surprising at all, now that he thought about it. Not sure what else to say, he said, "...oh".

"Oh? So what do you think? Are you happy for me? Are you angry about it? Say 'something'!", Bulma said, exhasperated.

But Vegeta didn't know what to say. They both worked on creating a life. What was he supposed to say to her...stick it in a birthing tube? He didn't know their ways of doing things. "I...have to finish my training", he finally said, turned around, and headed out of the house.

Bulma was left not sure what to think. She was now even more confused about how he felt than before she told him...

It was some months later. Bulma had gotten quite large. She decided not to concentrate on Vegeta and focus on the child to come. She was well past the sick stage now, and was atleast feeling much better. Instead, she was hungry all the time. Mr. and Mrs. Briefs was beginning to have trouble having enough food in the house for a Saiyan and a pregnant daughter.

But that didn't last long...

As for Vegeta...he finally took a ship and left for space. The Brief's house now had too many distractions for him to continue to train there and keep the focus he needed to have. It was bad enough feeling things for this woman, and then having to deal with her mood swings and sick waves. But now knowing he was going to be a father, he was going to have an heir to his race and STILL not be able to claim that he was the strongest of his people...it was just too much to take. He would not return to earth until he had achieved in becoming a Super Saiyan.

Yamcha had come over again during her pregnancy, and finally learned the news. He continued to rant how 'lucky' Vegeta was that he left before he showed up and found out the truth, otherwise he'd show him a piece or two for getting his supposed girlfriend pregnant. Of course, Bulma had calmly reminded him that Yamcha and her had not been together for over 8 months, now. She gave him the 'friend' speach and sent him sadly on his way, telling him that she could no longer accept any other man, except for Vegeta. Yamcha could not believe that Vegeta, of all people, had stolen his girlfriend's heart. Vegeta...the most heartless creature he had ever known, except for maybe Freeza. How could she care for him?

In another month, Vegeta had finally returned to earth, and was very pleased with himself. All the pressure that he placed on himself had finally paid off. His hatred for Kakkarotte finally allowed him to break through to Super Saiyan, despite all the distractions that Bulma had been creating for him. And once he personally got rid of the androids, Kakkarotte would be next! Then once again, he would take his rightful place at being the most powerful Saiyan in exhistence...atleast, this was his plan.

That night, Vegeta returned to the Brief house, to find no one home. The father actually left a note for Vegeta, saying if he came back in time, they were at the Satan city hospital, and Bulma was having his child.

Vegeta flew to the hospital, though he wasn't sure why, and stood hovering above the hospital sensing for ki. He immediately sensed some of the others in there; Yamcha was there with his flying cat, Master Roshi, Uulon, and Bulma's parents. All the others did not seem to be present. Vegeta especially noticed Goku and his family were not here, as well. He nodded, assuming that like a true Saiyan... Kakkarotte would not allow such distractions from stalling his training. Infact, he should be doing the same...still training. But he was happy to have made his goal and was allowing himself a night's rest. He would begin training again tommorrow, until the day came to fight.

Suddenly, there was an energy fluctuation he noticed happening with Bulma. She was in the middle of giving birth, as the way most primitive's do. He could also sense a 'new' power level it was his child coming into the world. He didn't know how to feel...a woman and her brat. He questioned himself multiple times the next 1/2 hour, why he had stayed and continued to sense her and the kids ki. He also purposely hid his own ki as low as possible so the others wouldn't sense him nearby.

By now, Bulma and their child had been carted to another room where she and the infant could rest. This room had a window, and Vegeta took the chance of dropping lower to try and see through the window at a distance. He could sense none of them were close to the window, all hovering around Bulma. Vegeta also insisted that he must have stayed this long simply out of curiosity...nothing more.

While the others talked about how 'great' she looked, Bulma tirely wished that Vegeta would have made it...even though, she already doubted that he would show. He was somewhere off in another world still training. She didn't even know why her father bothered to leave that dumb note it was a waste of time. Yamcha was of course, first to also notice and rub it in her face how she picked a man who wouldn't even show up to see his kid get born, upsetting Bulma even more. But she was too tired to say anything.

Strangely enough, during the time that Yamcha was saying that, her brand new little boy had manage to turn toward the window and bring his hand up, reaching toward the night sky. Bulma smiled, finding it amazing how much a Saiyan infant could already move around so much, right after birth. She then looked out the window herself, wondering if her son could somehow sense that Vegeta was out there, far in space. It was then, when she was almost certain she saw Vegeta far off in the sky looking in...then quickly turning and taking off, as if he realized someone had noticed. It might have simply been her imagination, especially since he was supposed to still be out in space. Maybe she was just tired and her mind was playing tricks on her. She had wanted him to be here, afterall. Or...or maybe she 'did' really see him. Maybe he got the note and made it afterall. She smiled, deciding that he really was there...he really 'did' care. He didn't like to show it all the time, having a reputation to uphold, but inside...she knew he really cared for them both. Satisfied, she ignored the rantings of the others that were scolding Yamcha for such harsh words about the child's father infront of Bulma like that, and fell asleep.

It was days later, before the others realized that Vegeta 'did' infact return from his training. Though he was not there himself, his ship had landed in Capsule Corp's front yard. Bulma had now focused all her attention on her new little Trunks, and did not pay much attention to what Vegeta was doing right now. She understood that he was more focused on the fight ahead, and maybe after that he would once again show back up on a regular basis. She knew he still showed up home, once in awhile. He left signs of being there, but simply did not stick around. He had changed his clothes, taken showers, grabbed some food, and Ms. Briefs even caught Vegeta showing up in his spare room, that was now the baby's room, looking over the kid to see if it was a boy or girl. Of course, he insisted the child meant nothing to him, and he was simply curious...but Bulma knew.

Vegeta was especially angry to find out that Bulma chose to have his son's tail removed at birth, but didn't waste his time ranting about it too much afterall, if he did they might think he actually 'did' care. But he had gotten the information he had wanted; he was a boy... a future Saiyan warrior, his name was Trunks. His hair was also blue just like Bulma's, but it was just a small little tuft of hair now, covered over by that stupid cap the hospital gave him.

Vegeta had seen Saiyan children in the birthing tubes before. But never did he stand there at one, and know that the child was 'his'. It was a strange feeling, indeed. Of course Bulma's crazy mother had to show up in the middle of the night to find him. He was also upset to find out from Mrs. Briefs that Bulma chose to remove the thing from his son that made Saiyans what they were his tail. To this day, Vegeta was still angry that the pitiful human Yajarobi had succeeded in cutting his own tail off. Unlike children, adult Saiyans did 'not' grow back their tails...that part of him would now forever be gone. As it would his son, since it was surgically removed and sewn up, so it would not grow back. But he had other things to do besides coming back to argue about the decisions made with this brat... atleast for now. The battle would be soon, and he had very little time left to train.

He had changed his routine some, sleeping in the mornings, training and meditating during the rest of the day, then coming in at the outrageous hours of the night, so he didn't have to deal with any other politics going on at the Brief's home. He had to keep focused on the fight ahead, and was not going to let her, her brat, or her parents distract him any further. He came for food, a shower, and curiosity to find out about his kid, without having Bulma get all sentimental about it. He had taken a newly cleaned armor with him this time, since he knew the time of fighting was near... he was ready, and when this was over, he would stand victorious! He had a plan, too. Instead of charging head first into the battle, like these other fools would probably do, he would keep his ki low and watch from a distance, to see what these androids were really made of. By finding things out and letting the fools get trampelled first, it would give him a greater advantage when he stepped into the battlefield. And by now, Kakkarotte was already sick in bed, so he would not be in his way, when he came to fight.

END

by Clarity


End file.
